Cerebral Palsy Law Blog : Cerebral Palsy Lawyer & Attorney : Burke & Eisner Law Firm : Medical Malpractice Lawyers & Attorneys

The family of a Pennsylvania woman, Sandra Koch,  has been awarded  1.6 million dollars by a Superior Court jury because she was given the wrong heart medicine.

According to the lawsuit, she had been admitted to Christiana Hospital on July 23, 2003 to be treated for atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart beat.  During her stay she was prescribed Sotalol twice daily.  The drug is used to maintain a regular heart beat in those who have a ventricular heart rhythm disorder.  Also named in the lawsuit were Drs. Lewis and Boyle doctors at Cardiology Consultants, P.A.

Koch also had kidney problems and was receiving dialysis every 3 days.  Sotalol is excreted by the kidneys and, in her case, was building up in her body.  In addition she was receiving  a dosage that was four  times what was appropriate for someone in her condition.  She was receiving 80 milligrams twice daily and that dosage was continued after her discharge.

Four days after discharge she collapsed while eating at a restaurant.  She was pronounced dead at Christiana Hospital.  Timothy Lengkeek, the family attorney, said that doctors should not have given the dosage of Sotalol knowing  she had renal impairment.

"The drug is excreted from the body by the kidneys and if the kidneys don't work and you are only getting dialysis every third day, the drug can build up in the body and cause a fatal heart arrhythmia, which is what she had kill her six days after she started the drug," Lengkeek said. "There was overwhelming evidence that you don't use this drug in this particular patient when there are other alternatives that were available that would have done the same thing."

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In Rhode Island, a Warwick man has received a $2 million verdict from a Superior Court jury.

Richard Barrett brought suit against Rhode Island Hospital and Dr. William Feng claiming that he did not receive proper care during his open heart surgery in 1998.

Richard Barrett said in his lawsuit against the hospital and Dr. William Feng that he got low amounts of oxygen to his brain during the 1998 operation.

His lawyer says Barrett's brain damage erased some memories of his children, affected his ability to form new memories and impaired his ability to communicate.

David Carroll, representing the hospital and Dr. Feng, says that Mr. Barrett got excellent care.  He plans to file for a new trial and pursue an appeal to the Supreme Court if the new trial is denied.

 

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Heather Grow's daughter, Cassie, was delivered by caesarian section but only after she had been stuck in the birth canal for over thirteen hours.  In 1997 Heather was told that she had a narrow pelvic arch and that became an issue about two weeks before delivery when her doctors realized that the baby was about nine pounds.

Cassie got stuck in the birth canal clearly being pushed through an opening where she couldn't fit.  Attorney Patrick P.J. Beirne described it as like trying to push a watermelon through an opening the size of an apple.   Not only was Cassie too big for the birth canal but medical workers continued to give Heather drugs to make the uterus contract.  She continued having contractions every couple minutes.  This continued for hours all the while squeezing the baby's head causing brain damage.

Attorney Mark Mueller said that the doctor had a responsibility to ensure that Heather had a safe delivery.

Cassie, now 11, is a spastic quadriplegic. That means she has limited use of her limbs.

She can walk short distances but needs a walker. She can see but because the part of her brain that processes vision was damaged, her brain can't properly interpret what her eyes see. She has problems using her hands, and she is mildly retarded, Mueller said.

"These are permanent injuries," Mueller said.

The vast majority of the settlement is for Cassie's future medical needs  and future loss of ability to perform ordinary activities.

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In a recent medical malpractice verdict in Indiana a jury awarded $3.7 Million to a young person with cerebral palsy.  Indiana state law reduces that amount to $2 Million under a law that caps verdicts.

Hmmm.  So what that means is that the insurance company gets to fight tooth and nail to keep from paying out and when they lose big then they are still protected.  Their maximum risk is $2 Million.  So who then bears the cost of the medical mistake... The victim.

Here's the Article:

A child was born in 2001 via c-section and is now suffering from cerebral palsy. Her family believes it was a lack of oxygen during birth and that doctors were too slow in her delivery. A jury in Indiana agreed and awarded them $3.7 Million in the medical malpractice case.

Source:  Injuryboard.com Tweet this

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Another pretty large verdict.  Often these verdicts make the news because of their size.  Please notice that there is usually an offer to settle for the insurance policy limits or some other number.  In many states if there is an offer to settle and the defendant and the insurance company refuse that offer, then if the verdict is larger than then offer or the policy limits then the insurance company may have to pay the higher number (the verdict).  This is designed to encourage settlements.

A Philadelphia jury on Wednesday awarded $12 million to a woman with terminal breast cancer in her suit against two doctors for allegedly failing to diagnose the disease before it had progressed to an incurable stage.

Specifically here is what the lawsuit alleges. "Lawsuit Alleges"  What that basically means is "Here is what the plaintiff claims happened to her."

The suit alleged that, due to Sutherlin's history of breast problems, including a bloody discharge from her nipple that required a prior biopsy, she was not a proper candidate for a "screening" test in the mobile unit and instead should have undergone a "diagnostic" test.

Magilner testified in his deposition that Sutherlin's questionnaire, which was completed by Fox Chase technicians, made no mention of Sutherlin's surgical history, nor the fact that she had undergone breast reduction surgery in 2000. The suit alleged that Magilner's report erroneously described a "dilated duct" that was "unchanged" and suggested a follow-up test in one year.

But Jones argued in court papers that a comparison of Sutherlin's 2001 and 2003 mammograms showed that the report from the first test made no mention of a dilated duct.

"In short, Dr. Magilner missed a clear opportunity to note the change in the left ductal prominence, which is where Angela Sutherlin ultimately developed a palpable lump and breast cancer was found," Jones wrote in her pretrial memo.

The suit alleged that when Sutherlin had another mammogram in March 2004 at the Albert Einstein Medical Center, another doctor, Susan Summerton, interpreted the films and noted "several small nodular densities," but found that they "remain stable compared to prior studies."

But the suit alleged that no nodular densities had been noted in the prior report, and that Summerton therefore should not have labeled the finding as benign.

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On Thursday in La Salle County Circuit Court, a jury decided Adam Porter should receive nearly $24 million from a doctor and nurse practitioner in a malpractice case.

The 34-year-old Streator man filed a lawsuit in May 2003 against Ephraim W. Batambuze, M.D., John E. Podzamsky, D.O., registered nurse anesthetist Linda Blair of A.T. Associates and nurse practitioner Patricia Duffield, as well as against Batambuze's practice, Prairie Cardiovascular Consultants.

Porter said he entered St. Mary's Hospital in Streator in November 2001 for surgery involving a kidneystone in his ureter. During surgery, he underwent cardiac arrest and the flow of oxygen to his brain was interrupted.

Source:  MyWebTimes.com

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The theme for this case seems to be "Delay".  That is a common theme in cerebral palsy medical malpractice cases.  Often this is because it is the delay that causes the oxygen deprivation to the brain.

This article states that this may be the largest verdict in Conn. history.

A Superior Court jury in Stamford has ordered a city obstetrician to pay $38.5 million to the family of a boy born with cerebral palsy in 2003.

The verdict is believed to be among the largest medical malpractice awards in the state, surpassing a $36.5 million award in 2005 against Hartford Hospital and an obstetrician.

The Stamford jury ruled Friday that Dr. Corinne De Cholnoky should have performed a Caesarean section more quickly during the 2003 delivery of Spencer Oram, whose umbilical cord was impeding blood flow to his brain.

Source:  Newsday.com


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A jury in Cook County handed down a record verdict recently.  $22 million.

A Cook County jury has awarded a record $22 million to the family of a 34-year-old woman who died in 2003 from complications during delivery at an Evanston hospital.

The family of Rachelle Bentivenga alleged that hospital staff failed to properly treat her high blood pressure during labor and that she suffered a massive brain hemorrhage as a result.

Source:  Chicago Tribune Tweet this

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From over at the NHLawBlog.com  (one of our other blogs)  Please go read about legislation in New Jersey  that will provide more protection to families.  This law will allow families to recover emotional damages when a family member dies. 

This law will basically allow people to be valued using more than just what they might have earned in the future. 

Support the Wrongful Death Legislation
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The Ohio Supreme Court threw out a $30 million dollar medical malpractice case in Ohio.  The court cited the plaintiff lawyer's theatrics during the case as one of the reasons for overturning the verdict.

The case involved a brain injury case arising from a delayed cesarean section.

In his closing argument to the jury, Fieger assumed client Walter Hollins' character in his mother's womb, his brain deprived of oxygen as he waited to be delivered.

"Doctors, nurses, I'm suffocating. Please help me to be born," Fieger told the jury. "I want to play baseball. I want to hug my mother. I want to tell her that I love her. Help me."

Hollins, 20, of Cleveland, will have to file another lawsuit to seek compensation for his injuries.

Source: Columbus Dispatch
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You hear it on the news fairly frequently now.

"Frivolous lawsuits are driving doctors to close their practice" Hmmm. Insurance companies accept premiums from doctors and then invest those premiums while they are waiting to pay any claims that might be brought against the insurance companies.

So...if the insurance companies want to make more money then they can raise premiums or cut down on the lawsuits. Why not do both.

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